Singers and Storytellers Page: 78
v, 298 p. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SINGERS AND STORYTELLERS
town lot in Breckenridge in 1918. He estimates that he can
sink a well to the producing sand for $50,000. He sells seventy-
five one-per-cent interests in the well for $1,000 each. He has
$25,000 above the expected cost of the well, and if he finds
oil, one-fourth of the seven-eighths remaining after the land-
owner's royalty has been deducted is his. He hasn't deceived
anybody.
He becomes a trickster if he does what many promoters
are reported to have done-that is, if he sells interests totaling
more than 100 per cent. I have been told that two men operating
under this plan had the misfortune to strike oil and that they
plugged up their wells and left in a hurry.
There is no conclusive reason for assuming that these latter
men are more typical of promoters than the first. Nevertheless,
they and their kind have cast suspicion upon the whole
fraternity. It is significant that Dad Joiner's friends have
resented his being called a promoter. They want it understood
that he was a bona fide wildcatter seriously looking for oil.
This suspicion dates from the first oil boom, when the
gold excitement had somewhat abated and sharp practicers
were turning to oil. A musical publisher, taking advantage of
the excitement that Drake's well had started, brought out the
Oil on the Brain Songster in 1865, in which several songs
satirize oil promoters. One2 lists the following companies
or partnerships:
FAMOUS OIL FIRMS
By E. Pluribus Oilum
There's "Ketchum and Cheatum,"
And "Lure 'em and Beatum,"
And "Swindleum" all in a row;
Then "Coax 'em and Lead 'em,"
And "Leech 'em and Bleed 'em,"
And "Guzzle 'em, Sing 'em and Co."
There's "Gull 'em and Skinner,"
And "Gammon and Sinner,"78
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/84/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.